The Apology Of Socrates

The Apology of Socrates (1951) by Adela Marion Adam – Cambridge University Press – Good Condition – Ex-School Copy

There are easier ways to spend an afternoon than standing in front of an Athenian jury explaining why you should not be sentenced to death. Socrates, however, had never shown much interest in making life easy for himself.

The Apology of Socrates, in this 1951 Cambridge University Press edition by Adela Marion Adam, presents Plato’s famous account of Socrates defending himself against charges of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. It is one of the foundational texts of Western philosophy and also a striking example of what can happen when a man spends years publicly asking powerful people awkward questions and then seems genuinely surprised that somebody eventually files a complaint.

Socrates does not apologise in the modern sense of saying sorry and promising not to do it again. The Greek apologia means a defence, and defend himself he certainly does — although not always in a manner calculated to charm the jury.

Accused of failing to respect the city’s gods and of leading young Athenians astray, Socrates explains his method of questioning those who claim to possess wisdom. His basic problem, as he sees it, is that many supposedly knowledgeable people turn out not to know nearly as much as they think they do. Socrates therefore concludes that his own peculiar form of wisdom lies in recognising his ignorance.

This is philosophically admirable.

It is also an excellent way of making enemies.

The speech ranges across questions of truth, morality, civic duty, death, knowledge and the responsibilities of the individual. Socrates insists that he would rather continue examining himself and others than abandon philosophy merely to save his life. His famous belief that an unexamined life is not worth living gives the text its enduring power and has inconvenienced generations of philosophy students ever since.

There is also considerable irony in the spectacle of one of history’s most influential thinkers being prosecuted partly because people found him irritating.

The jury ultimately finds Socrates guilty. Asked to suggest an alternative punishment, he initially proposes that perhaps he deserves free meals at public expense for the services he has rendered Athens. This is not generally regarded as the strongest possible strategy when addressing people who have just voted to convict you.

The eventual sentence is death.

Socrates meets the prospect with characteristic composure, arguing that death is either a dreamless sleep or a journey to another existence in which he may continue questioning distinguished people from history. Even the afterlife, apparently, is not safe from Socratic cross-examination.

This Cambridge University Press edition belongs to the formidable tradition of classical school texts from an era when pupils were expected to confront Greek philosophy in the original language rather than merely watch a three-minute educational video explaining that Socrates was “an important thinker”.

This particular copy is an ex-school book from Old Palace School in Croydon, giving it an additional little history of its own. It presumably spent part of its life in classrooms, cupboards, desks or schoolbags while generations of pupils attempted to make sense of Plato, Greek grammar and why a man who was trying to avoid execution kept saying things likely to annoy the jury.

The book is in Good condition, with the normal indications of age and previous institutional use one might expect from a school text published in 1951. Any marks of former ownership merely add to the sense that this copy has actually performed its educational duties rather than spending seventy years posing decoratively on a shelf.

There is no ISBN, because this was published in the happy pre-barcode age when Cambridge could simply print Plato, put the university name on the cover and trust that civilisation would work out what to do with it.

Ideal for students of Greek, philosophy enthusiasts, collectors of vintage school editions, former Classics pupils revisiting past struggles, or anyone who enjoys books in which the protagonist has every opportunity to make things easier for himself and steadfastly refuses.

Sold by Crappy Old Books — where questioning authority is permitted, former schoolbooks are granted a second life, and nobody has yet been sentenced to death for asking what “Good condition” really means.

Keep browsing: See more Ancient Classics books Other books by Adela Marion Adam